Forty-six percent of homes that went under contract during the four-week period ending Aug. 2 found a buyer within two weeks, according to a new report from Redfin.com.
During the same period last year, 32 percent of homes found a buyer within two weeks, Redfin said.
Additionally, the report said the average sale-to-list price ratio remained at a record high 99 percent, up from 98.5 percent during the same period last year.
“Normally this time of year the market would be slowing down,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a release. “But given that mortgage rates keep falling to new lows, and more people are just now getting clarity on how often they can work remotely and whether their kids will be going back to school this year, we are likely to see an unseasonably busy fall and even winter.”
The number of new listings was down 2.7 percent year-over-year for the four-week period ending Aug. 2, and active inventory of homes for sale was down 28 percent. Redfin said the lack of homes for sale means homebuyers are finding that if they want to win a bidding war they have to make aggressive offers.
“I helped one of my buyers win a home by putting in an offer with an escalation clause (which automatically increases the offer price up to a predetermined maximum relative to the next-highest bid) just a few hours after it hit the market,” Cleveland Redfin agent Danielle Parent said. “This was ‘the’ house for my buyers — the one they really wanted. We went 4 percent over list price and beat the next-highest offer by $100.”
“We should have had a delayed flood of new listings from March and April when the shutdown ended, but they never came,” Austin-based Redfin agent Carmen Petersen said. “I think one reason may be because potential home sellers aren’t comfortable having buyers coming into their house while they’re living there — most of the houses that we’re seeing on the market are vacant. And if they’re thinking of selling and buying something else, that’s daunting as well, because of how difficult the market is right now for buyers.”